EXCLUSIVE: Sky wanted to start 2023 with a bang.
The premium Warner Bros.
Discovery (WBD) internet is also the yardstick by which Sky measures its own originals.
‘Chernobyl’Sky/HBO
An eighth, the Emmy-winning triumphChernobyl, was co-produced by WBDs cable internet.
There was no place for 2022s splashy premieres including Kenneth BranaghsThis EnglandandI Hate Suzie Too.
By many accounts, Sky Studios is in a state of flux nearly four years after it was launched.
Frot-Coutaz is characterized by her colleagues as a woman prepared to run into bullets to get what she wants.
Im a big believer that the proof is in the pudding, she says.
Stakes Sky High
The stakes are high.
Concerns are growing louder about whether Comcast exercised good judgement in spending $39B on Sky in 2018.
Sky could generously be described as being in stasis.
Not all of this is Skys fault.
Competition is fierce and it has had to contend with a pandemic and war in Europe.
Most of Skys rivals bear similar bruises.
Hired from YouTube, Frot-Coutaz made her name at Fremantle.
She helped turnGot TalentandThe X Factorinto global franchises and sowed the seeds for Fremantles move into scripted.
Frot-Coutaz inherited Sky Studios from Gary Davey, an Australian executive who had close links to Murdoch.
When Gary went it felt seismic, says one producer, who has made shows for Sky.
Everything changed culturally and strategically.
Ive never known anybody land in a company with such force as Cecile.
As recently as March, Frot-Coutaz was explaining how Sky Studios works during a Series Mania keynote.
It was never properly nutted out at Sky, this person says.
… Indies feel like the children of divorced parents.
Frot-Coutaz is unequivocal about where the commissioning power lies on Skys biggest series.
People who have worked with both describe a situational struggle rather than a clash of personalities.
If theres a disagreement, both sides listen, a source says.
Cecile is winning the power struggle, says a regular Sky supplier.
Former employees complain they had difficulty explaining the new structure to producers and agents.
Sky used to be confident, instinctive, and aggressive in a good way.
Now it feels overthought and overwrought.
Frot-Coutaz adds that her team can move much quicker than our competitors on the right projects.
People talk about Cecile like Emperor Palpatine, says one well-known writer.
Shes shrouded in this imperial secrecy, with people trying to get a read on what she wants.
A Sky insider says that a high turnover of senior staff has been unhelpful.
Other significant departures include Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip, who left last year to run BAFTA.
Producers say Lyvers is attempting to steady the ship and is seen as a smart and approachable presence.
It was a car crash, an industry insider says.
They [Boffola] were distraught.
The crew was in pre-production.
They had to pull everyones contracts and pay everyone out.
Why does it have to be a tiny little Venn diagram of names from marketing?
bemoans a producer who has experience of the expectations.
It wasnt an easy decision, he tells Deadline.
Everyone involved in the show was quite blindsided by it because it felt like it had a good birth.
Im certainly not someone who would cry over spilled milk because Ive got lots of other opportunities.
Sky was fantastic to work with.
Showrunner Pete McTighe declined to comment.
Similar decisions have been made in comedy.
Sky was sweet on a third season of paramedic seriesBloodsbefore Frot-Coutaz pronounced it dead.
Some returning series remain foundational for Sky Studios, including AMC co-productionGangs of London.
The Risings cancelation has sparked speculation that Frot-Coutaz is winding down Sky Studios in-house production ambitions.
Frot-Coutaz says 2024 will be an important year for seeing her strategy on screen.
Son of the CenturyfromDarkest Hourdirector Joe Wright.
Frot-Coutaz seized on the show and asked NBC-backed Carnival to keep it at Comcast.
Carnival declined to comment.
Elements of the existing deal offer clues as to how Sky might keep hold of HBO content.
WBD declined to comment.
Frot-Coutazs allies say she recognizes these perceptions and is providing her colleagues with a dose of harsh realism.
Some of her contemporaries have drawn parallels with Jay Hunts tenure as Channel 4s programming chief last decade.
Additional reporting by Jesse Whittock.
